Abu Dhabi: A former European Union foreign policy chief this week gave a lecture at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy, the UAE’s training school for diplomats.
Catherine Ashton, a British baroness who served in the senior EU post for half a decade before stepping down in late 2014, delivered a lecture on Wednesday entitled: ‘Is Diplomacy in Retreat?’
In her remarks, Ashton said that diplomacy and international relations in today’s fast-changing world was more important than ever before.
She added that future UAE diplomats will need to play a key role building economic and political stability in the Middle East and beyond.
This is her second visit to the Academy since its establishment in 2014.
“Baroness Ashton’s experience is invaluable to the students given her central position in European and global statecraft over recent years and I thank her for taking the time to join us,” said the academy’s director-general, Bernardino Leon.
Leon is a former senior diplomat for the United Nations.
In August, the academy brought on board the UK’s former envoy to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, who teaches a course in ‘21st Century Diplomacy.’
Students from all seven emirates have joined the school from both governmental and semi-governmental bodies.
Next week, the Academy will mark the graduation of its first batch of students with their diplomas in International Relations and UAE Diplomacy.
